Help Wisconsin Raw Milk Dairies!

We write to you today with a plea for help for the farms in Wisconsin that have been fighting a legal battle with the state of Wisconsin for nearly 3 years over the sale of raw dairy products.

We are:

Midvalleyvu Farms, Wayne and Janet Brunner Arkansaw, WI

Hayward Community Dairy, Tim Wightman and Gleta Martin Hayward, WI

Back to the Best, Dan and Paula Siegmann Rubicon, WI

On October 22nd, we all received paperwork from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) asking us to CEASE and DESIST the sale of raw milk and dairy products as well as stopping all sales of shares that we have been selling to those that want to purchase these products direct from the farm.

We have a long history of dealing with the state of Wisconsin, for those of you that don’t know that history, please visit our pages at www.midvalleyvu.com and click on “Our History” link. This will bring you up to date with our struggle to make raw dairy products available to the consumer.

On October 20, 2002, Administrative Law Judge Cheryl F. Daniels gave her final ruling allowing bona fide owners of a milk producer license the right to consume raw milk directly from the farm. With financial help from the Weston A. Price Foundation, a model Limited Liability Corporation was set up at Hayward, Wisconsin (Hayward Community Dairy) much like the current Corporation we have set up here at Midvalleyvu Farms.

Those desiring raw milk can become a non-voting member by purchasing a share of stock in one of these farms. There has been intense interest in this model farm set up, which has led farms in a total of five states to follow suite and set up their own Corporations.

We three farms in the state of Wisconsin are at risk of losing our rights as well as a large part of our livelihood. If we lose our rights, the other states where these Farm Share Corporations are set up will be soon to follow. If that happens, this Nation will have taken a step backwards in the fight to make raw milk and dairy products available.

Why? The Wisconsin DATCP has decided that somehow we must have misconstrued what Judge Cheryl F. Daniels declared as the final ruling in our cases last October. It is the understanding of the DATCP that we are not set up to conform to the Securities Laws of Wisconsin. In other words, we’re breaking the law!

What it comes down to folks is the people’s choice–the people’s right to choose the food they wish to consume–the people’s right to purchase a share of stock if they choose, so that they can have access to the foods they want. Rather than working with the three farms involved in this fight, the DATCP has chosen to continually harass us. They have lead us to believe all is well and then slap us with paperwork requesting that we cease and desist, now for the third time.

We are prepared to take the DATCP on once again. We will fight for our right and the rights of our shareholders, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help –which is why you have received this letter today.

How can you help? We have put together a listing of people that need to be contacted. These people need to hear from the public! Not just from people in Wisconsin, but from all states where raw dairy is and should be available.

Please, do what you can to contact these people, with your phone calls, letters and emails. Tell them how you feel about raw dairy products. Those of you that have access to raw dairy, tell these people what it has done for you! Why you have chosen raw over processed. Remind them that you should have a right to choose the foods you want to consume. Those of you that don’t have a source for raw dairy, you need to let these people know that you want it, and why!

The DATCP must realize that there has been a shift in food choices in today’s consumers. This shift will continue to grow as more people become aware of processed foods and its relation to long term health. The DATCP needs to hear your story. DATCP needs to know you deserve the right to purchase the products YOU feel is necessary for the health of YOUR family.

Most of all, people need to hear that what DATCP is doing to these farms in Wisconsin is considered harassment, abuse of power and that DATCP is being used by large dairy interests to guarantee market share with your tax dollars.

We have found a way to make raw milk available in every county of every state. We’ve got a program that could potentially end the monopoly of the Four Dairy Corporations that now control 84% of fluid milk sales across the whole United States.

We will continue the fight for our right to sell direct. We have been fighting for our right to provide raw milk for a long time. It’s your turn to stand up and fight for your rights as a consumer. We need to stand together now and show state agencies that we are able to make informed choices without state intervention and allow farmers to do what it is they are meant to do….Feed the people, not the corporations.

Please help us!

If you would like to make a tax-deductible financial contribution to help with legal fees, please send your check to: (please put WAPF-Campaign for Real Milk on your check)

Following is a complete listing of people that need to be contacted with your opinions and testimonies. Please call, email or write a letter to as many of them as possible. The more we bombard them, the more fuel we’ll gain in our fight.